Tell your healthcare providers about any dietary supplements you’re taking, such as herbs, vitamins, minerals, and natural or home remedies. This will help them manage your care and keep you safe.
Yuanhu Zhitong (YhZT)is a traditional Chinese medicine formula. It’s made up of two different herbs.
Yuanhu Zhitong is used to treat:
Stomach pain
Headache
Dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps)
Osteoarthritis (arthritis that affects joints in your knees, hips, hands, and spine)
Talk with your healthcare providers before taking herbal formulas. They can interact with some medications and affect how they work. For more information, read the “What else do I need to know?” section below.
Side effects have not been reported.
For Healthcare Professionals
Yuanhu Zhitong (YHZT) is a traditional Chinese medicine formula consisting of two herbs: Rhizoma corydalis(Yuanhu) and Radix angelicae dahuricae(Baizhi). It is officially recorded in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia as a treatment for stomach pain, hypochondriac pain, headache, dysmenorrhea and osteoarthritis pain (1).
Small studies have shown that YHZT helps alleviate cold-pressor induced pain (2) and osteoarthritic pain (3). Preclinical models of Alzheimer’s disease indicate that it may also prevent memory decline (4).
Further research is needed to expand the evidence base.
Gastralgia
Headache
Dysmenorrhea
Osteoarthritis
The bioactive compounds in YHZT are thought to be alkaloids in Rhizoma corydalis and coumarins from Radix angelicae dahuricae. Studies done in murine models showed that YHZT alleviates arthritis by regulating PKC/ERK/NF-κB signaling pathway (5), relieves neuropathic pain by inhibiting spinal inflammation and neuropeptide signaling pathway (6), and modulates nociceptive behavior (7).
Adverse effects have not been reported.
None known.
Committee CP. Pharmacopoeia of People’s Republic of China. Chemical Industry Press, Beijing.; 2010.
